[en] Numerous studies have shown that phonological awareness plays an essential role in the acquisition of reading abilities in typically developing children. It has also been mentioned that the working memory has a central role in the reading activity. Concerning Down’s syndrome individuals, they are impaired in two central factors in reading acquisition: phonological awareness and verbal STM storage. This was observed in comparison with typically developing participants of equivalent MA or with individuals with other developmental pathologies. However, Down syndrome individuals manage to learn to read.
On the other hand, we note differences in age of mastering literacy according to the fundamental linguistic differences in orthographic depth. In fact, if children from a majority of European countries become accurate and fluent in foundation level reading before the end of the first school year, others do not. The effects appear not to be attributable to differences in age of starting or letter knowledge. The causes seem to be fundamental linguistic differences in syllabic complexity (which affect decoding) and fundamental linguistic differences in orthographic depth (which affect both word reading and non word reading). The time needed to establish foundation literacy is higher for French than for Italian language. It seems to be due to French language characteristics.
The aim of the present study is to explore the effect of two different languages on the working memory and linguistic development in teenagers with Down’s syndrome. The comparison of two different linguistic samples of DS participants (French speakers and Italian speakers) may contribute to better understand the role played by different languages on the development of verbal working memory and phonological awareness. Aspects of reading, writing, working memory, STM memory and phonological awareness were assessed. This paper will present and discuss our results.